Chief Minister highlights role of trade unions in protecting pay, conditions and retirement

The Chief Minister says rights, once won, must be actively defended - and that this is why the left and the labour movement exists.

Fabian Picardo said this is the reason why May Day still matters.

In his May Day message, the Chief Minister says the workers who built this tradition risked their livelihoods, liberty and lives - and that we owe them our continued vigilance.

Fabian Picardo says the trade union movement is woven into the identity of the Rock: a community built on the work of generations who loaded ships, provisioned the garrison, staffed hospitals, taught children, policed the streets, and more recently, built a successful financial centre.

He says through scholarships, the GSLP ensured the children of working people had the same opportunities as the better off - and that now, the interests of ordinary Gibraltarians have guided it at the negotiating table.

The Chief Minister highlights the rights he believes should be defended: freedom of assembly, fair pay, safe conditions at work, a dignified retirement.

He says all of these must be defended in an increasingly competitive world - citing the pressures young Gibraltarians will face, from the cost of living and the impact of automation and artificial intelligence.

Mr Picardo says his government will continue to work to provide the answers that ordinary, working people need.